King For A Day
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Commentary
AK has abandoned the classic rectangle of art history and chosen the rare oval form in this work. The shape befits the subject matter, recalling the ovals of Coats of Arms, or perhaps of a figure caught in a spotlight.
Like his playing card counterpart, this king appears in profile, and is melded with three images. The first is a bird on the lower right. The king's left (our right) arm embraces a wing that sweeps down and connects to the neck and head of a bird, with the tell-tale beak of a carnivorous bird of prey. The bird, reminiscient of the American Eagle, can also be interpreted as the noble partner or protector of this king. The bird faces left in profile, mirroring the king's position, and the U.S. Postal service-like image has connotations of integrity and responsibility, at least for this U.S.-bred critic.
The second image that confronts us, in the upper right of the frame, is the knife weld by a hand that clenches the blade from above, clearly ready to strike down this much-menaced monarch. This is in clear opposition to the bird, coming from the left, the classicly "evil" direction, as opposed to the connotative and denotative right. AK again makes interesting use of negative space, for the bumps of the knife-wielding hand become dimpled fingers on the king's stumpy right (our left) hand, so perhaps this king is threatened because his rule has been unjust - his right side is underdeveloped, while the sinister (the italian word for left is sinestro) left arm swells with power.
The third image that creeps in from the purple in the lower left is a jester's stick. Like the Fool that accompanies Lear on his downfall, the Jester is an apt metaphor in the image. The folly of the Fool is often mirrored by the folly of the King.
AK chooses purple, the color of royalty for the ground, and ghostly white for the endangered emperor.Once again, AK has woven several visual puns together. This king is only going to rule "for a day," partly because the seeds of his own destruction are naturally intertwined with his own self, and become part of his own being. Like ill-gotten fame, the nefarious acts or affiliations necessary to gain power inevitably bring disaster upon the power-hungry "king." This image reminds me of Picasso's Guernica, which was a critique of the Spanish Civil War fueled by another King for a Day, Francisco Franco.
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Image and title "King For A Day" copyright 2000 by the artist